Toni Mannix: Difference between revisions
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Toni Mannix was well-known in Hollywood for her beauty, flamboyance, and sexual appetite, the latter of which was reported to be legendary. In 1951, not long after she legally married Mannix, she met actor [[George Reeves]], soon to be famous as television's [[Superman]]. She and Reeves embarked on an affair under the approving eye of her husband, who had a new mistress of his own. Mannix and Reeves were fairly public with their arrangement, but the [[Print media|press]], out of respect for the clout Eddie Mannix wielded, never exposed the relationship outside the industry. |
Toni Mannix was well-known in Hollywood for her beauty, flamboyance, and sexual appetite, the latter of which was reported to be legendary. In 1951, not long after she legally married Mannix, she met actor [[George Reeves]], soon to be famous as television's [[Superman]]. She and Reeves embarked on an affair under the approving eye of her husband, who had a new mistress of his own. Mannix and Reeves were fairly public with their arrangement, but the [[Print media|press]], out of respect for the clout Eddie Mannix wielded, never exposed the relationship outside the industry. |
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In [[1959]], Reeves, then 45, broke off his relationship with 53-year-old Mannix, leaving her angry and broken-hearted. His death by gunshot wound to the head five months later was officially ruled a [[suicide]], although questions have been raised about the circumstances under which he died. Kashner and Schoenberger's partially fictionalized biography '' |
In [[1959]], Reeves, then 45, broke off his relationship with 53-year-old Mannix, leaving her angry and broken-hearted. His death by gunshot wound to the head five months later was officially ruled a [[suicide]], although questions have been raised about the circumstances under which he died. Kashner and Schoenberger's partially fictionalized biography ''Hollywood Kryptonite'' states as unsourced fact that Toni, via her husband's criminal contacts, ordered Reeves murdered.<ref name=whokilled>[http://film.guardian.co.uk/features/featurepages/0,,1950705,00.html Who killed Superman?], John Patterson, ''The Guardian'', November 18, 2006</ref> This theory was endorsed by publicist Edward Lozzi, who stated in 1999 that he had witnessed Toni's confession, albeit at a time when Mannix had already been suffering from [[Alzheimer's disease]] for many years.<ref name=whokilled/> Although the 2006 film ''[[Hollywoodland]]'' uses her husband's complicity as one possible solution to the Reeves mystery, the film remains ambiguous about the truth. In any case, Mannix was shattered by Reeves' death and remained devoted to his memory for the remainder of her life, reportedly building a shrine to him in her house. |
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===Later years and death=== |
===Later years and death=== |
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Revision as of 23:33, 15 May 2008
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Toni Mannix | |
|---|---|
| Born | Camille Bernice Froomess |
| Other names | Toni Lanier |
| Spouse(s) | Eddie Mannix (May 31, 1951 - August 30, 1963) |
Toni Mannix (February 19, 1906 - September 2, 1983) was a minor American actress and dancer in the early talkies. Her notoriety came not as a performer, but as the mistress and wife of MGM head Eddie Mannix and, later, the mistress of actor George Reeves.
Biography
Born Camille Bernice Froomess in New York, she was the fourth child of immigrants. Her father, Charles, was a Jewish Russian and her mother, Elizabeth, was a Catholic French-Canadian. Their large family would ultimately include eleven children; seven boys and four girls. Mannix's father was a department store window decorator in Rochester, New York and her mother a home-maker.
 | This May 14, 2008 may have been copied and pasted from another location, possibly in violation of Wikipedia's copyright policy. |
For a time, Mannix was a Ziegfeld Follies showgirl, and appeared in the Metro-Goldwyn-Meyer biography of Florenz Ziegfeld's life, The Great Ziegfeld (1936), and subsequently met MGM's general manager Eddie Mannix. She later lived with him as his mistress, and then as his wife, until his death in 1963.
Toni Mannix was well-known in Hollywood for her beauty, flamboyance, and sexual appetite, the latter of which was reported to be legendary. In 1951, not long after she legally married Mannix, she met actor George Reeves, soon to be famous as television's Superman. She and Reeves embarked on an affair under the approving eye of her husband, who had a new mistress of his own. Mannix and Reeves were fairly public with their arrangement, but the press, out of respect for the clout Eddie Mannix wielded, never exposed the relationship outside the industry.
In 1959, Reeves, then 45, broke off his relationship with 53-year-old Mannix, leaving her angry and broken-hearted. His death by gunshot wound to the head five months later was officially ruled a suicide, although questions have been raised about the circumstances under which he died. Kashner and Schoenberger's partially fictionalized biography Hollywood Kryptonite states as unsourced fact that Toni, via her husband's criminal contacts, ordered Reeves murdered.[1] This theory was endorsed by publicist Edward Lozzi, who stated in 1999 that he had witnessed Toni's confession, albeit at a time when Mannix had already been suffering from Alzheimer's disease for many years.[1] Although the 2006 film Hollywoodland uses her husband's complicity as one possible solution to the Reeves mystery, the film remains ambiguous about the truth. In any case, Mannix was shattered by Reeves' death and remained devoted to his memory for the remainder of her life, reportedly building a shrine to him in her house.
Later years and death
Widowed in 1963, Mannix was left wealthy and lived comfortably until the onset of Alzheimer's disease in her seventies. She died from complications of the disease in 1983 in Beverly Hills, at the age of 77, having never remarried or had children.
See also
References
- ^ a b Who killed Superman?, John Patterson, The Guardian, November 18, 2006